Page 78 of Cursed Beasts

“They will kill him, Zev,” she cried. “They might even make me give her up.”

She fell to her knees and cried into her hands. Seeing her broken like this tore at me. I sank down to my knees, bringing her into my arms. She fisted my shirt, crying harder.

“I’ll do anything, Zev, just tell me what you want,” she hiccuped, pulling away, pleading with her eyes. “Please save me and my baby.”

It seemed like she was dropping secrets that day. She was in love with someone else and was pregnant. That entire day was a mess.

My dad was getting older. He wasn’t well that day and we were with Mr. Potter’s wife, trying to see if there was something we could do for him. His sickness meant I would take over with Aeon and Lucien by my side. Just thinking about how we used to be had me clenching my jaw, missing my pack, my friends, and the only family I had left.

I entered through the library, passed the dining room, and smelled something amazing. My stomach grumbled, making me almost pick up food first, but I was filthy from last night’s rain.

Taking a quick bath, I got dressed and headed down to the dining room to hear the Belladonna and Lucien from the landing. He asked how to eat something, and she explained. I stuck to the shadows to see what was going on and that’s when I noticed Aeon sitting with them.

My stomach dropped at the sight of him. Had she gotten to him, too? I should have expected this because of his and Lucien’s bond. They always acted like they were mates, but Aeon always kept his distance for reasons I didn’t understand.

“Of course, I enjoy cooking, so I didn’t mind one bit,” the Belladonna said, and I felt even worse.

She cooked for them?

Jealousy roared through me, even my wolf felt hurt, and before someone saw me, I walked away. Why did she call to me? Why did I feel jealous? All these emotions were making me feel anxious, and I didn’t know how I felt about it.

My wolf urged me to go into the dining room to find out what was happening, but I ignored him.

She had to be casting magic on them or something sinister because there was no way they would willingly hang out with the Belladonna. Her family was the one who cursed us. We were here because of her ancestors. How could they forget that?

There was only one way to prove she was manipulating them. I needed to find evidence and show it to them. Since she was busy, I would check her room first.

She left the door open, making me suspicious. I slowly opened the door, waiting for any kind of trap to trigger. When nothing happened, I looked inside, seeing the room looked barren. I looked back out into the hallway, making sure I was in the right room.

She must have had an illusion spell, but I felt nothing when I walked in and everything looked very real. I opened the drawers of the dresser, the closet and anything I could move. Once I moved something, I would disrupt the spell and I might break the illusion, but no matter what I did, the room looked the same.

Frustration clawed at me as I stared at the room. I took a deep breath wondering what else I could do when I noticed I didn’t even smell her in the room. Her scent was nowhere in here, and I knew I was in the wrong room. Did Lucien move her?

Did he move her into his room? Her accommodations were supposed to be subpar but now that they were close, did he move her in with him? Anger tore through me that I didn’t even notice that he would go against what we all had agreed on.

I didn’t care if she was in his room; I was going to look through her stuff and find something, anything, that would show them she was a conniving Belladonna, just like her ancestors. As I approached the landing, her scent was strongest here, but I still heard her in the dining room.

One door to my left was slightly opened, and her scent was coming from that room. It was the room we had all the other Belladonna’s in until we gave her the worst room. We all expected her to be furious about her accommodations, but she said nothing about living in a small room with the worst bed.

With the same caution as before, I pushed her door open, waiting for an alarm or a trap to be set off. Nothing happened again, making me wonder if she thought we wouldn’t come looking, or if she was that naive. I had yet to see her cast any magic, wondering if what we suspected earlier was that she wasn’t very powerful.

The smell of a Belladonna’s power always smelled like a bouquet of flowers with powdered sugar on them. It was a weird combination. I remember the smell vividly when I would watch Vivienne cast magic.

Her magic always smelled like syrup, with a hint of lilies. A pang of longing hit me when I thought of Vivienne, but I squashed that down with hatred immediately.

This was definitely her room. It looked lived in with books on the floor, clothes on the chairs and the bed was not made. When did they move her in here?

I woke up a few times outside of her door and I never realized she wasn’t there because I was too worried that she would find me asleep there. I clenched my fists in anger before I started looking through her things.

This time I wouldn’t be distracted by lace and her mouthwatering scent. I looked through her closet checking every corner, every space in between clothes and anything that looked oddly placed. She had a small box that held a lot of lace and something that vibrated. I didn’t know what she would need that for, but it looked too small to be used for anything.

Leaving everything where I had found it, I made sure nothing looked out of place, so she didn’t suspect anything. Nothing was standing out, even the books she had gave the appearance that she might actually be researching the curse.

Irritation made me sloppy, but I just wanted to find something that I knew was here. On her nightstand were her knives and a few jewelry pieces. They looked to be nothing special until I saw a ring that looked a lot like a ring Vivienne’s mother used to wear.

The Belladonna was married.

It wasn’t what I was hoping to find, but I could use this. Lucien had hearts in his eyes, and if I could show she was being dishonest with him, maybe he would start to doubt everything.

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